Tag Archives: baking

We still have plenty of zucchini here, so I decided to try zucchini bread again. Unfortunately it can be pretty high in added fat and sugar – not exactly what we’re looking for in a healthy diet. I took a recipe I found in an old cookbook I had on the bookshelf called America’s Best Recipes – A 1989 Hometown Collection, and since I’d already made it as written I decided to try a few changes. The original recipe had good flavor, but was a bit greasy and pretty high in sugar. So I worked with it and reduced the amount of added sugar and oil, and substituted whole wheat flour for some of the all-purpose flour. All in all these changes saved 40-60 calories, and 3-6 gm fat per slice – depending on how many slices you cut. Changes in sugar and carbohydrate was small, only about 2-4 gm. The resulting bread had good flavor and texture, and was much less greasy. I may change it further still to reduce the amount of sugar a little more, but here is the current recipe. Enjoy!

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

3 eggs

3/4 c. granulated sugar

3/4 c. packed brown sugar

1/2 c.+ 2 Tbsp. canola oil

1/2 c. applesauce

1 tsp. vanilla extract

6 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

3 c. shredded zucchini

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1 c. whole wheat flour

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 c. almonds, chopped

Beat eggs in a large bowl until well beaten. Add sugars, oil, applesauce and vanilla, beating well. Combine cocoa, flours, soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a separate bowl. Add flour mixture to egg batter, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Fold in zucchini and almonds.

Pour batter into two well-greased and floured 9x5x3 inch loaf pans. Let sit for 10 minutes while oven preheats. Bake at 350° for 50 to 60 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center of each loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool 10 minutes and then remove from pans and cool completely on a wire rack. Yields 2 loaves.